


Don't weep for me ('Cause this will be the labor of my love)

by admirabletragedy



Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: "Pick Who Dies", Fic, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, gunshot tw, no.2, whumptober2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:35:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26767366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/admirabletragedy/pseuds/admirabletragedy
Summary: Day 2 • “Pick Who Dies”“Were you watching me sleep?” He questions, squinting at Five, who sits across from him.“Good to know that hit didn’t knock the dumbass out of you,” Five scoffs.Klaus can see him roll his eyes despite the dim lighting. Little shit.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946944
Comments: 12
Kudos: 177
Collections: Whumptober





	Don't weep for me ('Cause this will be the labor of my love)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hujwernoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hujwernoo/gifts).



> Title is from the song “Warriors,” by Imagine Dragons
> 
> • For @hujwernoo because their fics never fail to make me cry  
> (It's also a bit of a parting gift, for now, since I know they plan to take a (well-deserved) break for a while. Thank you for sharing all those fics with us @hujwernoo!)

In hindsight, they were all fucking idiots for not checking they’d found all the criminals in the warehouse.

This judgment, unsurprisingly, provided him no comfort as he’d been pulled back, a hand twisting his curls painfully and slamming his head against a stone pillar.

He stirs with a groan, his head throbbing with every beat of his heart.

“Klaus?” _He's not alone._

The thought prompts him to lift his lead-weighted head, blinking his way through a sea of flashing lights.

“Don’t fall back asleep, Klaus.” _Was that... concern?_

His vision finally clear, Klaus glances around, careful not to turn his head too quickly. Feeling a particularly sharp stab of pain in his head, he moves to cradle his head but— _oh_.

So _that’s_ why his wrists hurt. They’d been duct-taped to the handles of the chair he’s sitting in.

The sudden adrenaline rush at his discovery dissolves his headache and Klaus glances around quickly, looking to see who else was in the room.

He relaxes when he sees all his siblings accounted for, awake, and looking his way.

“Were you watching me sleep?” He questions, squinting at Five, who sits across from him.

“Good to know that hit didn’t knock the dumbass out of you,” Five scoffs.

Klaus can see him roll his eyes despite the dim lighting. _Little shit_.

“We all managed to get caught? Are you _kidding_ me?” Klaus hisses out, glaring at each of his siblings in turn. They glance away sheepishly and Klaus has to physically fight the overwhelming urge to roll his eyes.

“Incredible,” He starts, closing his eyes and letting his head drop against his chest, “despite being tied up in a forced circle, the Hargreeves continue to avoid important discussions.”

“For fuck’s s-” Five cuts himself off with an annoyed sigh, and Klaus opens an eye to glimpse at him. He’s staring at the ceiling, _probably trying to reign in his anger_.

“Can’t you just jump?” Klaus asks abruptly, tilting his head in confused curiosity.

“Gosh darn, _Klaus_ , I sure wish I’d thought of that-”

Luther cuts him off before he can finish, “He has a concussion.”

Well, _that_ certainly complicates things, “And you?”

The blond tilts his head toward his arms, pointing out the fact that there’s enough duct-tape to bar the man from any kind of movement.

“Oh for the love of— are _none_ of our powers useful in this situation?”

“I can’t exactly reach any knives, bro,” Diego retorts, refusing to look at Klaus despite being on his direct left.

“My powers are pretty useless.” Vanya chimes in softly, on Klaus’ right.

Allison's throat is still bandaged, so she won’t be much help either.

And Ben— _well_ . There was no use in letting himself travel down that road. _Not here. Not now._

“ _Fantastic_ ,” Klaus murmurs under his breath, letting his eyelids droop shut. 

It has only been a moment when the sound of a metal door colliding with a wall violently tears him from his rest.

And if that hadn’t woken him up, the hand twisting into his curls and yanking his head backward — _fucking ouch_ — certainly would.

Any thought of resistance, however, flees his mind the moment he feels cold metal against his jugular. Okay then, _not_ the time for any kind of his classic wit.

He chances a look to the side, careful not to turn his head, and registers a Vanya-shaped blur, another blur hovering behind her.

“Now, it’d be nice if you hadn’t chosen to intervene. I do hate having to clean up messes.” The voice came from somewhere behind Klaus and grew louder as it's source walked closer.

“I can certainly make this fun though.” The source, a man, moves in front of him, leaning over Klaus — one hand on the back of his chair — and securing eye contact with him. 

Klaus is forced to oblige, staring into the gray-haired man’s cold eyes without a falter.

The man squints, as though inspecting something distasteful, sniffing disdainfully, before he stands back up. “ _You_ , of course, have an option.” The man pauses, as though waiting for the tension to build. _Classic dramatic, narcissistic, daytime TV villain bullshit._

Five, who must be free from a knife or out of his damn mind, speaks up clearly, “Which would be?”

“Choose one... and you’re free to leave.”

“Choose one for what?” Five seeks, voice taut.

“Why, to die, of course.” The man laughs, low and dark. “Then again, I could just let them terminate you all now.” 

Klaus’ heart drops to the ground.

Five scoffs, “Yeah? And why’d I do that?” 

“I figured you’d enjoy a little game, it's quite sad that you aren’t up to parr.”

No one says a word, even Klaus knows that now is the time to hold his tongue. 

“Silence? Oh, come on, I’ll even let you look at them.”

The man must’ve signaled the guards to stand down because the hand in his hair is suddenly gone, leaving behind a pounding in his skull. The guards behind his siblings have moved back too, standing orderly, their hands clasped behind their backs. 

Five’s paled since Klaus has last seen him. He has an almost-manic glint in his eyes. 

They're not going to make it out of there unless he does something, Klaus realizes.

But what? How?

The man starts a creeping trek around their circle, hand tracing over the backs of his siblings' chairs. Klaus frantically tries to come up with a plan, considering his options as quickly as possible. He could— oh. He knows what he'll do. The man's hand falls from the back of Five's chair. Klaus waits. 

Luther... Allison... Diego...

The man pauses behind him — just as he has done with the others — and Klaus doesn't waste a second of time.

Kicking as hard as he can from the ground, he shifts his chair back, leaning backward with his upper body to complete the fall. 

It works and the man — caught off guard — gets a metal chair directly to the gut. 

He recovers quickly, grabbing Klaus’ hair hard enough to tear and Klaus can't stop the whimper that leaves his throat because his head hurts so fucking much he can't even think.

He hears his chair being pulled back — the metal legs dragging on the ground screech — and the man’s grip in his hair loosens enough for him to stop seeing stars. 

The safety clicks off of a gun and Klaus focuses on Five, who looks half-crazed. He musters a small smile, wanting him to know that it's okay.

The gun presses against the back of his head, forcing his it down and blocking Klaus' view of his siblings.

He hopes they turn away, please, God, he hopes they turn away.

“Seems he's chosen for you,” The man seethes.

The last thing he processes is the telltale click of a trigger and the crack of a gun.

He thinks he might hear someone screaming.

He wants to tell them it's going to be okay, but before he can open his mouth, the darkness swallows him whole.

He lets it.


End file.
